Tax Tip

Though I hate the custom of tipping, it’s easy to do, if you know basic arithmetic. 20%, a generous tip, is easy to figure: just take a tenth (knock off a zero–e.g., $50.00 becomes $5.00) and double it–$10. Voila, 20%. For 15%, just do 10% ($5) and 20% ($10), and go half-way between them: $7.50. (I know, I know, trivial math to you engineers out there, but lots of libertarians are just liberal arts majors 🙂

But the final bill you receive is usually after-tax, 8.125% here in Texas. I don’t want to pay a tip on a tax, so I usually back off a bit from my 20% estimate. E.g. if you get a $50 bill, that means only about $46 of the bill was the actual food bill. So you want to tip 20%, figure 20% of $50 ($10), and back off a bit, say knock a tenth off, so that you tip $9. And notice, $9 is about 20% of $46. If you figure the 15%, or 20%, on the after-tax price, you are tipping on taxes.

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